M.M. Hudson's Blog, page 49

St. Patrick's Day #Giveaway Hosted By Author Wally Runnels ends March 26, 2020 @wallyrunnels2 @mmhudson1968

Are you feeling lucky? Do you have your lucky shamrock near?
Welcome to author Wally Runnels' St. Patrick's Day Giveaway!This giveaway is being co-hosted by Reading Author's Network/Away We Go Media.
There will be two winners! Each will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card and a signed copy of Wally Runnels latest book, Twisted Love. 

                                                                READ REVIEW HERE


About Wally Runnels:
Wally was born in San Diego, traveled through Mexico, and Latin America. He was raised on the border at his family's ranch, whose original deed was recorded in 1870. Hanging out between two countries, he met a lot of unusual people: Hollywood types, Border Patrol Officers, professional trackers, smugglers, and people he won't mention by name. He'll remind you no matter how weird a story can get, it'll contain some grain of truth.
Disclosure: This giveaway is being sponsored by author Wally Runnels who is responsible for prize distribution. No other blog associated with this giveaway is responsible for the prizes. This giveaway begins March 12, 2020 @ 12 AM MST and ends March 26, 2020. This giveaway is an International Giveaway. TWO WINNERS will each receive a signed copy of Wally Runnels' book, Twisted Love and a $10 Gift card from Amazon. Note: If the winner is outside the U.S. only a Kindle of the book can be given. Countries or territories that do not allow giveaways will be excluded. All entries will be verified and winners notified via email.You must enter both of the mandatory entries to be qualified. Winners must respond within 48 hours with complete mailing or forfeit their prize.
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#Review & #Giveaway: Teetering On Disaster by Michaela Renee #memoir

Publisher:  Bowker (January 11, 2019)
Category: Memoir/Self-Help/Non-FictionTour dates: March/April, 2020ISBN: 978-0578430805Available in Print and ebook, 316 pages


About the book:Michaela Renee Johnson was just 12 years old in 1992 when a financial slump forced her family to move from an upscale area in Sacramento to a 27-ft trailer in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, with no electricity or running water — so no Nintendo or MTV. It wasn’t exactly the life that every adolescent dreams of, but it was, in fact, their reality.
My review:I am a fan of memoirs so, this book interested me from the start. I was intrigued to read about a family that went from wealth to virtually nothing and survived to tell the tale. This is how the first half of the book surely was.
The tale she tells is heart-breaking at best and yet inspiring at the same time. Even though today, in the new millineum, her brothers and herself would have found themselves in foster care, her parents did what they had to do. When it came down to it, the fact that they were a close knit family is truly what allowed them to survive.  
Overall, the first half of the book is what I expected to read and yes, she made it out as did the rest of her family, this is not a spoiler but, the truth.
Then came the second half of the book. This section see the author as grown up and wading through the aftermath of growing up poor. She managed it and we are told so but then, the book takes a turn to tell of her love life. A life rot with ugliness and mistakes. A life of confusion and ultimately, what?
I did not like this section and was disappointed in the reading of it. I found it to be like a second memoir, it did not seem to match with the first half, although, I understood.  My heart ached for her at every telling of the lovers in her life that simply did not fit.
I read on though and finished it but in the end, I was left with...nothing. The book seemed to drop off at the end. I wondered who her new husband ultimately was, even though, I could guess. I wondered how she finally ended up with a son. Again, not spoilers but information about her on the back of the book.

I wish I could give the book more than 3 stars because I would like to but this time, I really can't.The book was just okay for me.


I ultimately wonder...is life now okay for her?

About the author:
Michaela Renee Johnson is a licensed psychotherapist, Be You Find Happy podcast host and an award winning published author. She inspires happiness by encouraging people to speak their truth with grace, and live a courageous life of authenticity.Her business Be You Find Happy holds workshops and conversations on happiness in spite of life’s setbacks and has landed her speaking opportunities across the nation.She lives in Northern California with her husband and son. She enjoys traveling and has visited 19 countries; she loves the ocean and everything in it. She rarely finds herself without an activity whether it be hiking, yoga, tinkering the garden, golfing, reading or spending time outside.In her most simplest she loves poetic quotes and all things metaphysical.Website: http://www.michaelarenee.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michaelareneejAmazon
Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveawayThis giveaway is for one autographed print copy and 2 ebook copies of the book. Print is open to the U.S. only and ebook is available worldwide. There will be 3 winners. This giveaway ends April 21, 2020,midnight pacific time. Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.

#Spotlight" Photographs by James Garcia Jr

Photographs
James Garcia Jr

Genre: Women’s Fiction
Publisher: James Garcia Jr

Date of Publication: March 3, 2020ISBN: 9781655811678ASIN: B083H87YJ6Number of pages: 390Word Count: 84,798Cover Artist: Maria Zannini
Tagline: One night, two exceptional women meet; one black, one white. Both carry broken hearts and one has been dead sixty years.
Book Description:
One night, two exceptional women meet; one black, one white. Both carry broken hearts and one has been dead for sixty years.
In 1956, film actress Allison Belle abandoned the glamour of Hollywood for Fresno, California, and an idyllic new life.
In 1959, she disappeared altogether.
Sixty years later, real estate agent Joanna Johnson steps unsuspectingly into the old Belle house and a story long forgotten.
A devastating personal event opens a hidden door into the actress’s world. The mystery behind what broke Allison’s heart and what ultimately happened to her is revealed slowly by a series of long lost photographs the agent uncovers; the relationship she builds with the actress’s ninety year old husband; and through a series of “dreams” she has where she relives the moments captured by each photograph - herself a participant in them.
The closer Joanna gets to the truth, the closer she gets to suffering the same fate.
Amazon     Smashwords
Excerpt:
“In these daydreams and dreams that I have glimpsed, I have seen the best of a woman who was so pleased to have left her past life.” She held out her hands and motioned around her. “She loved this place and everything about it. I have seen her happier doing yardwork than she appears in any red-carpet premiere photo on the Internet, and I’ve seen many of those. I have heard her laugh and shared sweet moments with her.”“So, what happened to her?” John asked.Joanna grew silent. “I wish I knew.” She sighed and thought it over. “I believe her last moments were spent in isolation. Richard appears in fewer and fewer of the memories toward the end. I’m not sure why. He’s in Hollywood now, so perhaps the pull of that life tugged him back. One of the last moments I spent with her, for lack of a better explanation, she was sitting by this window.” Joanna turned and pointed behind her.“What was she doing?” John asked.Joanna stared at the spot. “Nothing. Well, drinking. Drinking pretty heavily, actually. In the end, I think it was all she had.” She turned back around, and her gaze settled on the pool. She lifted a hand to her face.“What is it?” Shelly asked.“The first night I stayed here, I found an old bottle of Scotch in a cabinet that would not open to me. When it finally did, that’s when I found the first photo. It was her booze. I had entirely too much of it and ended up in the pool.”“Why?” Shelly asked.“I think I was trying to kill myself.”“Oh, my God,” Shelly said. “Because of your engagement?”Joanna shook her head. “No. I think it was Ally. I saw an outline of somebody standing on the ledge of the pool. When I came up for air, she was gone. But she had been there. I really don’t understand it myself.” Both faces were glued to hers. “I found the previous renter.”“The zoo guy?” John asked.“Director Eggars,” Shelly added.Joanna nodded. She looked into Shelly’s eyes. “He really didn’t want to talk to me once I told him about the house. Know what he said to me?”Shelly shook her head.“He said, ‘Please don’t tell me you ended up in that pool.’” Joanna looked from one to the other and back at the pool. “His wife ended up in the pool, too. I get the feeling it had happened more than once. That last time, he got her and their kids out of here and never came back.”“Is the pool haunted?” John asked, turning around to face it.“I don’t think it’s the pool,” Joanna answered. “But I wonder if Ally tried to kill herself and every woman who stays here feels the same compulsion. Perhaps that’s what she was staring at when I sat with her. Maybe she was preparing herself…” She grew silent while she contemplated this.“Maybe she didn’t try,” John said. “I know it sounds creepy, but maybe she succeeded.”“John!” Shelly recoiled.“I told you it was creepy,” he defended himself.“It would explain much,” Joanna said. “Except what happened to the body.”
About the Author:

James Garcia Jr. was born in Hanford, California. He moved up the road to Kingsburg with his family as a child. After graduating KHS, he attended Reedley College where he met his wife. The family still makes its home in Kingsburg which is typically the setting of his fiction.
He was the 1994 winner of the Writers International Network/Writers Inter-Age Network writing contest in the horror category. He is the author of the Dance on Fire edgy vampire series and the stand-alone paranormal, Seeing Ghosts.
During the day, he is a manager at Sun-Maid Growers of California.
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/JamesGarciaJrFanPage/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/danceauthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danceauthor38/
Website: https://jamesgarciajr.jimdofree.com/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3483458.James_Garcia_Jr_


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#Spotlight & #Giveaway: I Know When You Are Going To Die by Michael J. Bowler #YA #Suspense #Thriller

I Know When You’re Going To DieMichael J. Bowler

Genre: YA Suspense/Thriller
Publisher: Michael J. Bowler, Author Date of Publication: Release date 2/25/2020ISBN: 978-1-7333290-0-2ASIN: B07Z48BHH4Number of pages: 212Word Count: 81KCover Artist: Streetlight Graphics
Book Description:
Leonardo Cantrell is a painfully shy sixteen-year-old who cannot look people in the eye. One night while he’s volunteering at a homeless shelter, an old man forces eye contact and gives Leo the power to see Death.
His best, and only, friend—J.C. Rivera—thinks this new power is cool until Leo accidentally looks into J.C.’s eyes and “sees” his murder, a murder that will occur in less than two weeks. Stunned and shaken, the two boys sift through clues in Leo’s “vision” in a desperate effort to find the killer and stop him before he can strike.
Aided by feisty new-girl-at-school, Laura, the boys uncover evidence suggesting the identity of the murderer. However, their plan to trap the would-be killer goes horribly awry and reveals a truth that could kill them all.
Amazon      BN       Apple Books      Kobo

Excerpt:
The door to the dorm is open and I step in. It looks like a huge barn with a worn hardwood floor studded with row after row of folding cots. Since it’s dinnertime, all the cots are empty except one.An old man with surprisingly alert eyes lies atop that cot staring at me. Most of the older people who frequent the shelter have rheumy eyes, always moist and often clouded, because they’ve struggled for so long on the street, and maybe because they have alcohol or drug problems.“Come here, boy.” His voice is raspy and echoes faintly in the cavernous room.At first, I don’t recognize him. True, there are hundreds of homeless on the streets every day, but I’ve been volunteering on Skid Row since I was fourteen and after almost three years, like I said, I know most of them. I’m  thinking  that if this guy is a regular, he’s passed under my radar.And yet…I have seen him, I think. Not here at the shelter. Walking to my car…?  Yes!  Several times over these past two or three weekends, I’ve noticed him.  He’s caught my eye because, every time, he’s stared at me so intently it made  me shiver. He’d be pretending to rummage through a dumpster, but his eyes would follow me until I got into my car. I confess his gaze made me uncom- fortable, but I let it go. I’ve learned to shrug off such creepy feelings because   so many of the people I meet down here have mental health issues.I steel myself and walk between the rows of empty cots—each with its  neat bedroll awaiting an occupant—and stop before the stranger  with  the scary eyes. Unlike most of the people, his clothes aren’t especially dirty and he doesn’t smell like someone who’s been on the streets for a long time. Wisps of gray hair stick out from his head at haphazard angles and his face has so many wrinkles I don’t think I could count them if I tried.I don’t make eye contact, but that’s because I never do. Not here, not anywhere. People tell me I’m the definition of “shy” and they’re right.“You asked to see me, sir?” I say deferentially, my gaze on his gnarled hands.He rolls over onto his back. “I been watching you, boy. Seen you on the streets a lot.”I freeze. So, I didn’t imagine it! “Yeah?”“Yeah.” The voice sounds like sandpaper scraping along a fence. “Rich boy like you helping out poor folk like me. What gives?”I’ve been asked this question by all my relatives, so I’m ready with my answer. “I think people like me who are lucky to have a lot should help people who don’t. And I hope I’m making the world better instead of worse. The kids  I know just party and think about themselves all the time. I don’t want to be like that.”A crooked smile cracks the wrinkled face. “You’re the one, all right.” “The one?”With effort, he unclasps his hands with their swollen knuckles and holds his right arm out toward me. It shakes, like he barely has enough strength to keep it aloft. “Take my hand, boy.”Unlike my best friend J.C., who never touches any of the people when he comes with me to the shelters, I usually have no worries about contact. But I hesitate this time. I mean, this guy has been watching me on the streets. But kindness makes me swallow my anxiety and I clasp his hand. He squeezes gently.“Look into my eyes.”Ordinarily, I’d just glance into his eyes and then look away. But that com- manding tone compels me. I raise my eyes and focus on his. They’re brown  and alert and they shimmer beneath the overhead lights. We  lock gazes, and     I stiffen. Something I can’t quite pin down swells within me, like a surge of emotion. I suddenly feel… different.All the tension drains from his face in an instant. Relaxed, he releases my hand, pulling his arm back with great deliberation. He rests both hands across his stomach and gazes up at me with obvious gratitude.“Thank you, boy. Now I can die.”I shudder. “Wha-what do you mean?”The man offers a gentle smile. “I gave you a great gift, boy. Or maybe a curse. Had it so long, I can’t be sure no more. But I couldn’t die till I passed it on.”I stand frozen in place, my heart thumping, my breathing on hold. A gift?A curse? “Uh, pass what on, sir?”He chuckles and it’s a wheezy sound, like he doesn’t have much air in his lungs. “Just you calling an old bum like me “sir” proves you be the one.”I feel different inside and his words scare me because I know he’s donesomething to me. “I’m just a regular kid, sir. Nothing special.”That chuckle erupts again, wheezier this time. “Oh, you’re more than a regular kid. Like you said, most kids only care about stupid crap like partying. You’ll  use my gift well.” He lapses into a coughing fit that scares me even  more.“Want me to get some help?”He waves away the idea with one hand. After a few moments, the hacking ceases. “No need. It’s  my time.” He suddenly looks really pasty and gray in   the face. “When you find someone worthy, boy, pass on the gift to them,” he whispers, his voice very soft and almost inaudible. He closes his eyes and lies still. “Until then, make wise choices.”
Then he stops breathing. Literally, just stops. One second his chest is ris- ing and falling and then the next, there’s nothing. I want to shake him back to life and ask a thousand questions, but instead I run from the room to get help. About the Author:

Michael J. Bowler is an award-winning author who grew up in Northern California. He majored in English/Theatre at Santa Clara University, earned a master’s in film production from Loyola Marymount University, a teaching credential in English from LMU, and a master's in Special Education from Cal State University Dominguez Hills. Michael taught high school in Hawthorne, California, both in general education and to students with learning disabilities. When Michael is not writing, you can find him volunteering as a youth mentor with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and raising his newly adopted son. He is a passionate advocate for the fair treatment of children and teens in California, and hopes his books can show young people they are not alone in their struggles.
Website: https://michaeljbowler.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/michaeljbowlerauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelJBowler





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#Spotlight: Pepperoni Pizza Pinching Chimps by Tracey C. Ayres #Middlegrade #BookBlitz

A Mystery unfolds when pizza delivery boys along with their pizzas keep disappearing, mostly pepperoni pizzas.Keah is puzzled by strange noises that happen around the apartment building where she lives.With the help of her friends, Keah is determined to find out why these things are happening before her family get back from the cruise.

ExcerptChapter 1
Bang, bang, bang!        The knock on the front door made Keah jolt awake. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she stretched and yawned.        “Who is it?” she shouted as she stretched again.        “Pizza!” The voice from the other side of the door shouted back.        “I didn’t order any pizza,” Keah replied.        Walking over to the front door, she picked up a small stool and placed it by the entrance before stepping on it. She pushed her eye up to the spy hole. Her dad had assumed that everyone was going to grow six-foot-tall when he had the spy hole fitted, but for Keah, who was struggling to reach five foot two, a stool was the only option.Keah could see a mass of curly black hair with a red cap perched on top. A boy about her age, sixteen, moved away from the door and turned to face Keah's front door. He stood awkwardly, holding a stack of pizza boxes.        “Someone at this address did, Miss. Someone has to pay for all these pizzas. My boss is gonna be livid if I take them back.”        “I didn’t order any pizzas. Go away. I’m calling the police.” Keah stepped away from the door.        That’s when she heard that noise. The sound that grated through every bone in her body. It was the noise that made her spine tingle like fingernails running down a blackboard. A thought rushed through her head: Is that two pieces of metal scraping together? She shuddered and took a deep breath.        Looking back through the spy hole, she watched the boy look around quickly, then turn and head back down the hallway, shaking his head. She heard him talking loudly and cursing to himself as he shoved the boxes back into the pizza warmers. His boss was going to be so annoyed. He had just walked past Mrs. Joy’s front door—Mrs. Joy was Keah’s neighbour—when he stopped and turned. Walking back to Mrs. Joy’s front door, the pizza delivery boy spoke to someone, but Keah couldn’t quite see who.        Keah thought she saw dark shadows enter the hallway and move around the pizza delivery boy. But she couldn’t quite see who it was before the hall light switched off. Keah desperately wanted to go out into the hallway and turn on the light just to see who the boy was speaking to, but instead, she stepped off the stool and slid down the door onto the floor.        Taking a deep breath, she crawled over to the coffee table, grabbed her iPhone and then edged her way back to the door. Even with her ear pressed against the door, she heard nothing but silence. Pressing her phone to wake, she opened her keypad. Slowly she pressed the button 000. She then placed her phone on the carpet next to her. What if Mrs. Joy had visitors, and they had ordered the pizzas? How stupid would I look? She thought to herself as she rested her head against the door and yawned. What a weird smell. I feel so tired. Keah thought before she finally closed her eyes.        Bang, bang, bang!        The vibrations from the banging on the door awoke her with a start. The light was now streaming in through the window, and the traffic sounded noisy. She felt the door vibrate against her back as the knock came again. Realizing she must have fallen asleep by the front door, Keah crawled into her bedroom, crouched at the side of her bed and listened. She heard people outside in the hallway. Someone banged on her neighbour’s door. Mrs. Joy is getting a lot of visitors lately, she thought.She showered quickly and got ready for school. Slightly hesitant, she opened the front door and stepped out into the hallway. A tall policeman stepped in front of her.        “Oh,” she announced, quite startled. “What’s going on?”        “Morning, Miss. Do you live in this apartment?” The policeman had a broad Australian accent. Keah stepped back. She turned and glanced at the door before nodding dumbly.        “Why didn’t you answer your door when I knocked earlier?” The policeman leered at Keah, making her stomach turn.        “Got ID?” Keah said, avoiding eye contact.        The policeman fumbled inside his tunic and eventually pulled out a wallet and showed her his identification card. By now, he had been joined by another man. This one was not in uniform but in a dark grey suit.        “Morning, Miss. Got a name? I’m Detective Sergeant Paul Grimes.” He whipped out his ID before she could even think of asking.        “Keah. Keah Madelia.”        Keah had stepped back again and was now squished up tight against her own front door.        “Where are your parents, Keah? You don't live here alone, do you? You off to school?” The DS bombarded her with questions, and all she could do was shake her head.        “Well?” DS Paul Grimes said.        The uniformed policeman started to look around the hallway as if he was losing interest in Keah.        “My-my parents are cruising around New Zealand, somewhere. I’m on my own till they get back. I am old enough. I’m sixteen—well, I’ll be sixteen in a few weeks!”        “Are you off to school?” DS Grimes asked again. “Which one?”        “Yeah. St. Luke’s, at the corner of Holden Street,” Keah replied. Looking up at the DS, she asked him what all the police were doing in her building.        “Don’t suppose you’d let my young officer here just poke his nose inside, would you? Only a pizza delivery boy went missing last night, and we believe this was his last delivery before he disappeared.”Keah’s eyes widened, and her heart quickened. I saw him—I saw him talking to someone at Mrs. Joy’s front door. Keah wanted to scream at the detective, but instead she looked at her front door again then back at DS Grimes.        “I’m late for school, and I didn’t order any pizza, perhaps Mrs. Joy did,” she declared boldly, pushing her key in the lock and letting the door swing wide open. “Knock ya self out.”        Keah watched two policemen step out of Mr. & Mrs. Guey’s flat before she stepped back inside hers.        She saw the uniformed policeman pull a pair of white disposable gloves from his pocket and watched as he rummaged around in the kitchen bin. Satisfied nothing was exciting in the waste bin, the policeman walked into Keah’s room, emerging a few moments later. Glad I tidied up after showering this morning. That could have been embarrassing, Keah thought. DS Grimes emerged from her parent’s bedroom. Her sister’s door was wide open. Mia would not be happy if she found out they’d touched her doll collection, which sat the whole length of one wall.        “Did you hear anything last night, Keah? About 9 o’clock?” DS Grimes enquired softly.Keah was already shaking her head from side to side and looking toward the window.        “No, nothing, sorry. I-I um, I fell asleep quite early last night.”        The DS reached into his inside pocket and pulled out what looked like a business card. He held it out to Keah.        “Well, if you do recall anything, please call me. No matter how silly or small you may think it is, I would still like to hear about it. Okay?”DS Paul Grimes pushed the card into Keah’s hand and left. The other policeman quietly followed, not even looking at Keah as he walked past her. Keah studied the card. Her older sister was around his age and single.        And he is cute for a cop. Maybe a bit grumpy for Erin, Keah reasoned with herself.        She slipped the card into her school bag before throwing it over her shoulder. Slamming the door behind her, Keah rushed past the policemen in the hall and skipped down the stairs into the street. She didn't look back or slow down until she’d reached her school three kilometers away.Her best friend Abby was waiting for her at the gate as usual. A total contrast to Keah’s fair complexion and strawberry blonde hair, Abby had olive skin and dark hair that matched her equally dark eyes.Keah turned and scoured the street before entering the school. She linked her arm through Abby's as they walked the long driveway to the school building.        “Did you hear what happened last night?” Abby asked.        Keah shook her head from side to side as if she hadn’t heard and glanced at Abby.        “Another pizza boy disappeared. That’s four now,” Abby said, quite anxious.        “Oh yeah, that—apparently it happened in our building. The boy delivered pizza to someone in our building then vanished,” Keah tried to act nonchalant but didn’t dare look at Abby again, in case she saw the guilt in her eyes.        Keah knew she had been acting strange since her parents left for the cruise and that she should have gone to help that boy last night, but she hadn’t.        “Oh, Keah! Did you see him? Did you order pizza? No—you wouldn’t—I know that, but Keah, how dreadful,” Abby cried as she let go of Keah’s arm and swung around to face her. “Have you told the police? Are you alright?”        Keah nodded. She looked fine, but her stomach was knotted, and she felt shaky.        No one had been there when Keah was woken up at 2am by the dreadful screams. She felt as if she was going mad with the scratching from the inside of her wardrobe. It came from the ceiling, from under the floor. She felt tired but didn’t want to tell anyone in case they thought it was because she was on her own and couldn't cope. Although she often spoke to her neighbours, neither had commented on the noises to Keah. The sounds started two days after her parents left with her six-year-old sister Mia. She now wished she had gone with them, but it was too late. At the time her exams were more important. Plus, the excitement of staying home all on her own for three weeks was more than she dared wish for.        Keah had planned get-togethers at her place and even a massive party. She had run the party idea through her mum because she knew someone would tell her parents. So, she told her it would be very low key and if her mum had wanted her oldest sister Erin, who lived way over at Happy Valley, to come and supervise, that was cool. At the time Keah had felt that she was old enough to cope with a few friends on her own. Now, she was not so sure.

 Book Blitz - February 19th
1. RABT Book Tours2. Tea Time and Books3. Book Junkiez4. Musings From an Addicted Reader5. The Avid Reader6. T's Stuff7. Jazzy's Book Reviews8. The Indy Book Fairy9. The Pen Muse 10. Chapters Through Life11. Nana's Book Reviews12. Momma Says to Read or Not to Read13. Michelle Meng's Blog14. Sylv.net15. Crossroads Reviews16. On a Reading Bender17. Sapphyria's Book Blog18. Beach Bound Books19. Book Luvin Rose20. Books, Dreams, Life21. I'm Shelfish22. Novel News Network23. Silver Dagger Scriptorium24. Book Reviews by Virginia Lee 25. Secular Homeschool Today26.  Reading Authors27. Readers Alley



Author Image Share Link
Tracey C Ayres writes action-packed mysteries which are fun and exciting for young readers. Most of her books have heroines rather than hero's, for no particular reason, and her characters are intrepid, quick-witted and smart, and sometimes they are even fearless. Because Tracey believes when we lose ourselves in a story, our imagination should hold no barriers.Best known for her book Gularian Islands (the one with the blinking dragon eye on Youtube) which received an incredible five stars LitPik review.Tracey was born in England where she grew up with two older sisters and three younger brothers. Studied childcare, social work and psychology and wrote for a local newspaper but now loves her current job the best and that is writing stories for young children.Living in Australia with her husband, daughters, grandchildren and a menagerie of pets she loves to find a shady tree and lose herself in her adventures while writing.
Contact LinksWebsite: https://www.traceyayres.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/IammistyvaleFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/tcayrestheauthor/

Purchase LinksAmazon: https://www.amazon.com/Pepperoni-Pizza-Pinching-Chimps-Tracey-ebook/dp/B07ZMB6WSMB&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pepperoni-pizza-pinching-chimps-tracey-c-ayres/1134465127?ean=9780648686200

#Review: Monsterland Reanimated (Book 2) by Michael Okon #YAHorror #Suspense #series

I have always been an old school horror movie fan. Michael Okon's (formerly Michael Phillip Cash) brilliance was prevalent throughout the entire book and his love for this movie genre showed.

In this second book in the Monsterland series, Michael laced, The Mummy, The Blob, Frankenstein, and The Werewolf all into one beautiful retelling that only he could do.

I loved that returning characters from the first book had matured and found themselves in roles that seemed nearly impossible. The new characters written worked seamlessly with the old. The best thing was seeing them working together to fight a common enemy even though they were by far different in thought and action.

It was also not lost on me the subtle comments on our own current society that were inserted in such a way that it seemed they were part of the book.

Great read and worth the 5 stars it is getting from me.
Ps. I can't wait to see more Melvin! Read the book and you will know.

Disclosure:I purchased a copy of this book for my own collections. The owes here are 100% my own and may differ from yours. -Michelle

#Review: Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson #selfhelp

My review:
I have wanted to read this a long time as the title itself intrigued me. This is a story that tells the reader how to move forward in aspects of one's life.

The book begins with a group talking about their lives and how they are stuck. As they are talking, one of them brings up a story he had heard about two mice and two people that are in a maze looking for cheese.  I really cannot tell you more than that because by doing so, I would give the whole book away.

However, if you are stuck in the 'rat race' of life whether it business, everyday life, or even love, then this is the book for you. It is not a self help book per se but look in terms of who you may be and why you are stuck.

If you do not seem stuck, then this book is also for you. It shows you not to be too comfortable and always be prepared for change.

I highly recommend this book and to pass it on to others. Most importantly, talk to each other about it too. 5 stars!

I purchased a copy of this book for my own collections. The review here is 100% my own and may differ from yours. ~Michelle

#Spotlight & #Giveaway: Bitter Alpine by Mary Daheim #CozyMysteries

  Bitter Alpine: An Emma Lord Mystery (Emma Lord Returns)  Cozy Mystery2nd in Series Publisher: Alibi (February 4, 2020) Print Length: 235 pagesASIN: B01LZU2W7N

New year, new murder . . . Emma Lord is on the case when death finds its way back to the wintry mountain town of Alpine.After a relatively calm and cozy holiday season, neither Emma Lord, editor and publisher of The Alpine Advocate, nor her husband, Sheriff Milo Dodge, are surprised when their new year gets off to a rocky start. A woman’s body has been found in a squalid motel. Her driver’s license shows that Dawn Purvis was in her late thirties and lived in Weaverville, California—and the only connection between that town and Alpine is their gold-mining and logging origins. When they discover that Dawn’s room reservation was open-ended, Emma, Milo, and the ever-inquisitive Advocate receptionist, Alison Lindahl, are more than mildly curious. And never mind that the youthful Alison is a bit distracted by the new county extension agent’s virile good looks. She can still sleuth while she stalks her newest crush.But that’s not all the news that’s unfit to print. There’s something strange about the older couple who have moved into the cabin down the road that was once owned by a murder victim. The elderly wife seems anti-social. There’s got to be a reason, which Emma, Milo, and Alison intend to find out—even if it puts them in deadly danger.'

About Mary Daheim
About the AuthorMary Daheim is the author of the Alpine mystery series. A Seattle native with a degree in communication from the University of Washington, she realized at an early age that getting a book published might elude her for years, so she began her writing career working on daily newspapers. The mother of three daughters, she lives in a century-old house in her hometown.Author Website - https://www.marydaheimauthor.com/Purchase Links - Amazon 

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Coming soon...Spring Into Horror #SpringHorror

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